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Next Ethnosh Dinner Features Caribbean African Fusion

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Theresa and her 2 daughters Samenah and Samyatta. Photo by Bobby Tewksbury.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to live out their lifetime dream, but Theresa Barnes gets to do just that. From the time she was a young girl playing chef while watching her family cook, Theresa knew she wanted to own a restaurant. It seemed like an impossible goal, but she never stopped chasing it. The path was a rocky one filled with many detours, but in January 2019 her dream became reality when Eden Spice opened.

Theresa has spent most of her life in the United States, emigrating from Sierra Leone, in west Africa in 1991 with her large, close-knit family. She first joined her family in Philadelphia, who encouraged her to find success with a career in the medical field. Theresa tried to put her passion for cooking on the back burner to pursue an education in nursing since that seemed more secure.

Shortly after, her boyfriend was able to join her in the United States, and they moved to Columbus to be closer to his family. They got married, started a family, and then relocated to Dayton, where her family rejoined her. Once again, she tried to continue her education in the medical field, but her heart just wasn’t in it.

The calling to be in the kitchen was undeniable. “I tried to ignore it, but it just wasn’t going anywhere. It was just in my head.”, she explains. She recounts a time when she attended a loved one’s wedding and found herself in the kitchen helping with food preparation. Everywhere she went she volunteered to cook for people. “Wherever I worked, every time we had a potluck, I would volunteer, I would bring 3 or 4 different dishes.”

Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

Theresa decided she would continue working to help provide for her family while pursuing cooking on the side. Getting some outside opinions of her food was the next step. One day, she cooked two different African inspired dishes and bravely went to various businesses and asked if they would like lunch. The meals were very well received, so she began to bring meals to new places weekly.

Theresa then received a phone call that would change the course of her future, setting things in motion leading to her dream come true. Her cousin provided the food for Horizon Science Academy in Columbus and had been asked to pick up the Dayton and Cincinnati branches. The first person she thought of was Theresa, telling her “If you help me with this, I’ll help you with a restaurant.” Theresa jumped on the opportunity and excelled. In time, her cousin made good on her promise and helped her find the perfect spot to open her restaurant. Theresa felt so grateful for her cousin who believed in her, “Somebody finally listened.”

Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

Located on East Dixie drive in West Carrollton, in what used to be a Subway, Eden Spice was born. “Everything I prayed for from childhood until this point, it came true”. The work was just beginning, and there were many challenges ahead of her, but she knew “You have to work hard to get somewhere…You have to put everything on the table. It’s a big risk.”

Since she had been ready for this day her entire life, she used to think opening the restaurant would be the most difficult part but running it would be much simpler. She laughs as she tells me how mistaken she was on that account. Maintaining a restaurant has been a journey with many surprises, but you won’t find Theresa complaining about any of it. “I have the privilege of living my dream, so I’m ready for any challenge.”

Eden Spice quickly became a family business, with her daughters in the front, while she is in the kitchen. She affectionately calls her daughter the CEO. However, balancing family life while starting a restaurant has been trying. Theresa gives much credit to her family for supporting her and sacrificing much of their time to help at the restaurant and make her dream a reality.

Her family has always played a crucial role in her life. In fact, her inspiration to become a chef can be traced back to her family, “Basically everyone in my family are cooks.” Theresa has many memories of watching her Grandmother, Mother, and Aunties in the kitchen. She brings much of that tradition to her food, and particularly to one specific dish on her menu called “Grandma Tenneh Papaya Stew”. She recalls how this was a dish that her Grandmother would make for her on special occasions. In time, the recipe was passed down to her so she can pass it down to her children. It is a dish that is filled with love and sentiment. She chose to add this cherished family recipe to her menu to show her customers how she feels about them, stating, “This is the place we want you to come and feel like our family. This is home.”

Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

As much as she loves cooking, it has taken some trial and error to figure out how to cater to the American market. Sometimes people are intimidated to try foods that seem foreign to their palate. Eden Spice serves food that blends the flavors of Africa, the Caribbean and America. As you can expect from the name, the food is flavorful and spiced with many seasonings from thyme and garlic, to secret family spice blends. In addition to a well-seasoned meal, you can count on a meal made from scratch, “I want everyone to know that everything is fresh. Nothing processed.” She explains.

After just over a year of being opened, Theresa has learned a lot about being a restaurant owner. On the hard days, she calls her father for comfort, and he reminds her “Most people die with their dream, but you have a chance to fulfill yours. You have lived a complete life just because of this.” She says this always reminds her to be grateful for the entire experience, good and bad. “Eden Spice is my gift from God. Nothing in my background tells me I could be a restaurant owner,” she tearfully shares, “But I am…. Don’t give up on your dreams.”

Ethnosh DAY is heading to Eden Spice!

Join us on Monday, March 16 for a plate full of some great Caribbean / Sierra Leonean cuisine and meet the people who bring all of this goodness to your city.  Vegan and Vegetarian plates are available. Please be sure to select your preferred option on your ticket order form.

There are 2 ticket seatings available for this event, 44 seats per seating, so this will sell out quickly! Order yours online now, just $18 plus a small processing fee.

SEATING 1: 5:30 PM – 6:45 PM
SEATING 2: 7:30 PM – 8:45 PM

Next Ethnosh Experience Explores Peruvian Cuisine

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Chef Margot. Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

Originally a fashion designer hailing from the capital city of Lima, Peru, Margot Blondet has always been passionate about creating beauty. After spending some time in France, she decided to leave fashion behind and return home.

When her best friend opened a culinary school with Le Cordon Bleu, Margot saw it as a golden opportunity to pursue something she enjoyed while spending time with a beloved friend. After studying and working for nearly two years, word got around of her delicious food. People started asking Margot to come to their house to cook, all while she continued to take classes at the culinary institute. Becoming a chef wasn’t her first path, but it became clear this was a world in which she could weave together her love for cooking and making beautiful things.

“It’s a lot of thinking. Every dish needs to be pretty, not just good,” states Margot Blondet, Executive Chef and Owner. She spends the next hour describing to me all that truly goes into designing the perfect experience when dining at Salar. “It’s a theater” she states. No detail is too small.

“Coming to a restaurant is not only about the food, I think it’s about the space, where you’re sitting. It’s about the plates you are being served on. It’s about the lights, music, the service, the smell.” Salar Restaurant and Lounge is located in the ever-popular Oregon District in Dayton. The area is filled with many eateries but one glance inside Salar and you won’t be able to deny the unique elegance and charm.

In 2005 Margot elected to relocate herself and her children to Florida for a much-needed change. She had only planned on staying just a few months, but life had a surprise in store for her. She reconnected with her high school sweetheart, and they picked up their relationship and fell back in love. When he was offered a job in Ohio they moved together and got married.

Margot did some catering for some time when she met the owner of Sidebar. She was asked to help open the restaurant here in Dayton and one in Columbus for him. Although that establishment closed, the owner of the building was so impressed with her work, he offered the space to her if she was interested in opening a restaurant of her own, and that is how Salar was born.

Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

Salar, which means to salt, or season, was opened in 2013. “I love salt. Salt is the essence of life.” Margot points out the many pictures of salt around the restaurant. Most of the pictures were of the salt mines in Peru, which Margot has visited herself. The salt mines are still active, as they have been since the time of the Incans. Chef Blondet has many varieties of salt in her kitchen, all with a distinctive flavor of their own.

When asked what she loves most about cooking she tells me that she is not the most patient person. Delayed gratification is a difficult thing, but with cooking, you get rewarded straight away. She goes on to say, “You feed somebody, and they try it and they like it. You see their face and its immediate.” Feeding someone a good meal is satisfying, “The restaurant came after the food by logic.”

The food at Salar isn’t strictly traditional Peruvian cuisine if there ever was such a thing. Margot describes Peru as “the catalog of the world.” Everything from their culture to their dining has been influenced by immigrants from all over the world. “We have a lot of Chinese immigrants. A lot of Italian immigrants… We were conquered by the Spanish too.” They also have influences from Africa, and the Middle East. In addition to all the cultural influences, Peru is known for its over 90 microclimates. Microclimates are pockets of weather conditions that differ from atmospheric conditions nearby. These variations mean the food available locally is entirely dependent on what part of Peru you reside in. “I haven’t even eaten all the food”, Margot chuckles.

The food at Salar Restaurant and Lounge is all house-made. “If you want French fries, you have to peel the potatoes.” Margot is dedicated to sourcing the best ingredients in the market, as flavor and quality are priorities for her. Even the cocktails are made completely from scratch. “I put a lot of love. This is like my second house”.

Owning a restaurant has not come without adversity. In 2017 Margot was awoken with a phone call letting her know her restaurant had caught fire. “I thought it was a prank at first.” Sadly, this was no joke. This was a very painful process for her, especially because she felt responsible for her employees. It took 9 long months to get the restaurant open again. As difficult as that was for her, Margot’s mindset looking back at the whole experience is impressive. “It was an opportunity, as much as it was a bad thing, in the end, once you pass it, you see it as a good thing because everything is brand new. You build something better.”

Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

 

Through the course of the remodel, Margot gave special attention to every aspect from the Peruvian art adorning the walls to the stunning chandelier hanging in the Pisco bar that Margot put together with her own hands. Pointing to an alluring waterfall feature, she informs me that it’s not just for aesthetics, but also doubles as an air purifier. Everything in the entire space has been chosen with much thought, all intended to cultivate an atmosphere and give the diner much more than a delicious meal. “That’s the whole mentality here that we try to do. From him (pointing to the gentleman greeting the customers at the door) with a big smile to welcome you.”

Margot gives me a tour of the restaurant, and somehow each room is more lovely than the last, ending at the intimate outdoor patio space. I marvel at how she has pieced together each component of the experience together like a puzzle. “The food is just one piece of it. The food is a start. It wouldn’t be possible without all the other elements.”

SALAR RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE

Photo by Bobby Tewksbury

400 East 5th Street
Dayton, OH 45402
(937) 203-3999

NoshUp at Salar  Sun, Feb 23

Get a plate full of some great Peruvian cuisine and meet Salar Chef-Owner Margot Blondet, who will share her story of Lima to Dayton and fashion to food.

SEATINGS & INFO

There are 3 seatings for this event:

Seating 1: 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
60 ticket capacity
Seating 2: 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
60 ticket capacity
Seating 3: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
60 ticket capacity

Buy your tickets online here. 

Vegan and Vegetarian plates are available. Please be sure to select your preferred option on your ticket order form.

For those interested in adding an adult beverage, Salar will have beer, wine and select Peruvian-influenced cocktails available from their bar.

Next Stop on the Ethnosh Tour- Prems Chennai Delight

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Located in the bustling Washington Park Plaza shopping center off Lyon’s Road in Centerville, you will find Prems Chennai Delight. The restaurant is cozy and inviting, filled with natural light coming from the front wall made of glass. Your mouth will likely already be watering at this point, filled with the smells of warm spices and tomato sauce.

Lunch hours will be over soon, but the restaurant is still filled with happy conversations and eating. I am directed to a small table near the kitchen and kindly offered a mango lassi while I wait for customers to finish being served. The yogurt drink is thick, creamy, and sweet, a perfect afternoon treat.

Everything settled now, I get a chance to sit with Lavanya Premkumar, manager of the front of the house for Prems, and wife of the owner and head chef Premkumar Nagarathinam. Lavanya and Prem are from Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu in South India. Both are trained engineers, Lavanya a software engineer and Prem a mechanical engineer, but that was never enough. Speaking for her husband, “Although he’s an engineer, his passion was towards food.” That is why they opened their first restaurant back home, seating over 90 people, and operating for more than 11 years. It was important for them to have a space that served traditional Southern Indian cuisine. Surprisingly, this was unique for the restaurant scene in Chennai. Lavanya explains the city, with a population of over 7 million residents, has become known for fusion food influenced by the melding of varying cultures residing within the city.

chilli parotta

Lavanya’s career as a software engineer meant that she spent more time traveling than at home. She had contracts globally, including Europe and the U.S., often working in areas of New Jersey and New York. Settling down in the United States was never the intention, but after landing a 5-year contract at Lexis Nexis in Miamisburg, it made the most sense to make herself a home here. Prem would visit on vacation, but eventually, they decided it was best to be together. After a while, running the restaurant in Chennai from another country became more difficult, so they made the tough decision to hand it over to friends.

One thing they couldn’t leave behind was their heart for hospitality. The calling to cook and serve others was still undeniable. Jointly, they opened a personal catering business cooking out of their kitchen with Prem as the sole chef. They catered numerous events for 6 years building a loyal customer base that would return again and again to get a taste of their delicious food. In 2017, Prem opened Prems Chennai Delight, the name selected to pay homage to their roots back in India.

Combo Uttapam

The Miami Valley area has no shortage of Indian eateries, but Prems stands out from the rest because of its South Indian offerings. Lavanya has a personal mission to share with people what Southern Indian food is. “Everybody was thinking about the tikka masala and the samosas. If I talked about Indian (food), they would just say this is what it is.” There is much more to Indian food than just these well-known dishes. At Prems Chennai Delight, they have four exceptionally trained chefs in addition to Prem himself. One is a dedicated curry chef because each curry includes a unique blend of spices. Every curry has a distinctive flavor. It isn’t simply a protein and a creamy tomato sauce, which is more common in North Indian cuisine. In South India, many recipes use blended nuts to achieve a creamy taste. “More dried spices, more garlic and ginger, onions, tomatoes to get the gravy.” Seafood is a popular protein in South India and can be found on the menu, as well as Halal chicken, goat, and plenty of vegetarian options.

Lavanya excuses herself to box up some leftovers for a patron when Prem steps over to greet me. He graciously offers to cook some food for me. Being a lover of Indian food, I tell him to surprise me. He asks me a few questions about my preferences, and heads towards the kitchen, stopping only to give a gentle high five to a young child smiling at him.

Lavanya returns, continuing to explain about their chefs. They have one chef primarily in charge of making dosa, a thin flatbread made from a blend of rice and other ingredients. It is fermented overnight, then cooked quickly, coming out almost crepe-like. Dosa is a staple in South India and is served with most meals. Each chef has an important, yet separate role. “Our primary strength is our chefs”, Lavanya boasts.

Paneer Butter Masala

“We try to keep everything more natural. No canned food or preservatives.” This commitment to freshly-made, cooked-to-order food not only makes a difference in flavor, but it also helps keep things lighter and healthier. This does mean that when you come to dine at Prems, you can expect to wait longer than at some other establishments. Prems is not meant to be a fast-food style Indian restaurant. It takes time to develop the flavors. “I will tell them it will be 30 minutes or sometimes more”, or on a busy afternoon like today, the wait times are longer.

On our table, a young man sets down a basket of warm naan bread, a bowl of rice, and a dark-colored chicken curry adorned with fresh green herbs. Prem had chosen to make me Chettinad chicken curry, which is something I had never tasted. The bold flavors of garlic and chilies mixed with tender chicken pieces make for one delightful and spicy meal.

Chicken 65

Lavanya has a bowl of food herself, as she tells me of a recent article she read, stating that India has over 120,000 known dishes. “Everybody makes different dishes, and we have different weather conditions in our country. Some places it snows, and some places it’s like Florida. So, the grains we grow in each place varies.” Each area is known for its own set of traditional meals. Prems Chennai Delight strives to honor the five states of South India by including customary dishes from each region. “Our elders, especially Grandparents, they always teach us if we keep everybody’s stomach happy, we will also be blessed.” A wonderful sentiment that can be tasted in every bite of the food.

 Prems Chennai Delight

725 Lyons RoadWashington Township, OH 45459
(937) 949-3850
Join the Nosh Up at Prems on Tuesday, January 21.
Seatings are 5:30 and 7:30 PM. Space is limited to 54 per seating. Regular, Vegetarian and Vegan options are available.

Ethnosh Introduces International Dining Experiences to Dayton

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A popular dining initiative that originated in Greensboro, North Carolina is coming to the Miami Valley.

Ethnosh, an organization that plans monthly dining events called “NoshUps” at immigrant-owned restaurants in North Carolina, is partnering with civic innovation lab The Collaboratory to launch its model locally in Dayton.

The concept is to discover the most delicious international foods locally during casual tasting events where guests are able to sample and learn about the authentic cuisine being highlighted. At the same time, guests will meet and hear the stories of the owners and families coming to America and getting into the restaurant business.

Greensboro resident Donovan McKnight founded Ethnosh in 2014 out of a love for cross-cultural discovery and food: “My wife is the daughter of an immigrant,” says McKnight, “and grew up surrounded by global food. When she took me out to restaurants I became fascinated by the food, but more so the people behind the food. . I began developing relationships with the families, and I thought, “What if I could facilitate this experience for my community?’” That’s how Ethnosh was born. To date, the Greensboro, NC outfit has visited more than 40 restaurants and food trucks, with thousands of attendees. “Food has the power to bring people together,” says McKnight, “to dispel fear by creating commonality across cultures, and build bridges across the table.”

The Dayton initiative marks the first expansion of the Ethnosh network through its partnership with The Collaboratory, a regional civic innovation lab located in downtown Dayton. The Collaboratory acts as a catalyst for initiatives in the region like The Dayton Sewing Collaborative, X FACTOR and Porchfest.

Collaboratory founder Peter Benkendorf met McKnight while attending a national urban development conference about five years ago and the two became friends. According to Benkendorf, when he learned about Ethnosh a couple of years ago, the light bulb went for its alignment with Welcome Dayton, the region’s immigrant-friendly initiative, and the gears started turning.

“What I like about Ethnosh is its emphasis on cuisine, culture and community, as well as supporting local immi- grant-owned businesses,” said Benkendorf. “The NoshUps are about new culinary experiences, but they are also focused on sharing the personal stories and journeys of the restaurant owners and their families. NoshUps are set up with large tables, so we are also building community, which is a core value of The Collaboratory.”

“With hundreds of immigrant-owned restaurants in the Dayton region from every part of the globe, there is an in- credible wealth of cultural experiences out there waiting to be discovered. Ethnosh is a perfect fit with the Welcome Dayton initiative, since Welcome Dayton is committed to supporting immigrants and refugees and celebrating their contributions to the region. Ethnosh is a great way to bring people who love food and those who are curious about other cultures together to support these locally-owned businesses,” said Monica Harris, Coordinator of the City of Dayton’s Welcome Dayton Initiative and part of the Ethnosh team.

Attend the first Dayton NoshUp

Sunday, October 13, at Olive Mediterranean Grill
44 West Third Street, Dayton OH 45402

Seatings are at 5:00 and 7:30 pm
Tickets $18 per person plus ticketing service fee.
Seatings limited to 50 people.
Tickets are now on sale at  Ethnosh.org.

Olive specializes in traditional Mediterranean dishes, including Baba Ganouj, Shish Tawook, Kufta Kabab and Lamb Shank. Guests will be served a sampler plate representing traditional Mediterranean dishes.

Olive owner Fadi Shokri immigrated to the United States from Palestine in the winter of 2009, arriving in Dayton on New Years Day 2010. He and his brother opened Olive in 2015. Originally located on North Dixie Drive, the restaurant moved to downtown Dayton in June 2018.

“What I love about this business is not just sharing the food I grew up with, but meeting and sharing my story with Daytonians of every walk of life who come into Olive. The community has been so welcoming and I could not be more pleased to help Ethnosh get started in Dayton,” said Shokri.

For additional information contact [email protected] or 937.476.1321.